Comcast offers their equivalent of Tivo, a seriously inadequate Motorola DVR that does not provide any of the features that Tivo includes (including the ability to actually record what has been programmed). The upside is that you don't buy the DVR, just pay Comcast $9.95/month for the privilege of recording untold hours of junk. This is the new improved, dual-tuner version which allows me to record one piece of crap while watching another on a different channel.

I've set it up to record all my favorite crime shows - every flavor of Law and Order, CSI, Medical Investigation (not literally as crime show, but it does have "investigation" in the title). What I've requested to box to do, following all of the cryptic instructions, is to record only the new episodes of these shows. Otherwise you end up with the DVR filled to capacity with every syndicated episode of all these shows. Which is exactly what it does, snubbing its little electronic nose at me. Each week I return from traveling to find that none of the new shows have been recorded because the damn thing is full with the same 15 episodes I've seen a dozen times. And I keep forgetting to record House, which is my favorire new show. Crabby, acerbic doctor with a drug addiction solves intricate diagnostic mysteries - can't get much better than that for escapist TV. At least, TV where everybody keeps their clothes on.